Pidukiya (also pirukia or pedakiya) is the Maithil form of the half-moon stuffed pastry known elsewhere as gujiya. A stiff dough of refined flour is rolled thin, filled, sealed into a crimped crescent and deep-fried golden. The Mithila filling leans on grated coconut, khoya, sugar and cardamom, often with chopped dry fruit — which sets it apart from the semolina-and-sugar versions common elsewhere.
It is a celebration sweet rather than an everyday one — made for weddings, festivals and as a gift sweet, valued partly because, being fried and dry-filled, it keeps for up to a few weeks. In a Maithil bhoj or festive box, pidukiya sits beside khaja and laddu as one of the standard mithai.
